Page 42
Sect. 3.
But he proceeds with a Philosophical Axiome, No∣thing can make any thing,* 1.1 which is not in it self. There are some rules given by Philosophers which are some∣thing like this, as [Nihil dat quod non habet] Nothing can give that to another which it self hath not. But not to trouble a Reader with other distinctions, this is suffici∣ent for our businesse, nothing can give another what it self hath not, either formaliter, formally inhering in it, or virtualiter, that is, it hath power of producing it. A man, who hath not a peny in his purse formally, yet ha∣ving it vertually, can give another a thousand pounds by his Bond or command to his Steward. The heavens, which, according to Aristotles Philosophy, have no heat in them formally, yet vertually, by their Philosophy, pro∣duce heat in sublunary bodies: The steel and flint, which are cold, and have no fire in them, no formal fire, yet knockt together, having it vertually, produce fire enough to burn a world. Instances might fill this sheet, but this last is very pat to this business: The two bodies, which make a noise or sound, have not the noise or sound in them formally, but like fire in a flint, so doth sound lye asleep in them, and by their collision, and knock∣ing together, this fire is produced. I have discoursed of this Proposition before, as it was applied to sight, under those termes (as I remember) that motion pro∣duceth, nothing but motion: